Newsletter 22 January 2026
In our newsletter this week...
- Novice and Rookie Butler Championships
- Graded Butler Pairs Saturday
- New Members
- Wednesday Night Pizzas
- Youth Week Part Two
- Youthish Night
- Friends of Youth Bridge
- Online Lessons
- Sorry... How did the Auction go?
- Upcoming Events
- Results from SFOB
Canberra Bridge Club Novice and Rookie Butler Championships
This pairs event crowns the club Rookie and Novice champions. To be eligible for the championship, players must have less than 100 masterpoints each and to win either title you need to be a CBC member. Red masterpoints will be awarded. The Rookie category cutoff will be determined based on the number of entries.
- Saturday 7th February 9:45am - 5:15pm
- Cost to be charged on the day: $24 members, $20 concession, and $30 non members.
- Entries close 5-00pm on Tuesday 3rd February
- Click here to Register
Players who have more than 100 masterpoints will be entered into a graded pairs side event, with the categories based on the number of entries.
Graded Butler Pairs Saturday
On Saturday the 7th February CBC will hold alongside the Novices and Rookie Championship, a mini congress style Pairs Day where players of all abilities will get to play in graded pairs competitions.
This event starts at 9-45am. It will finish around 5-15pm. It will be run over two sessions and scored using imps converted to VPs.
There will be a lunch break of about 1 hour. Please bring your own lunch as many of the cafes at Deakin shops are shut at Saturday lunchtime. At the end of play there will be drinks and nibbles with the winner presentations.
- Enter now through myABF
New Members
Canberra Bridge Club welcomes the following new and returning members to our club:
- Paul Quach
Wednesday Night Pizzas
The Wednesday night pizzas provide the opportunity for social interaction while enjoying a pizza sampling. It provides a great opportunity to talk to and socialise with your fellow players, which is not always the case when engaged in playing bridge.
- 28th January - 6:30pm
- $5 payable on the day for half a pizza
Those wishing to partake should place their name on a list on the noticeboard or contact Jon Pike directly. His email is
Cheers
Jon
Youth Week Part Two
The second half of Youth Week was just as fun as the first half but it also got more serious with the selection for the U26 Australian team. Jess, Byron, Dev, Diya and Jade qualified for Phase 1 of selections. Dev and Diya came fourth and Jade and Taydon fifth. While it was disappointing to miss out, they will have a strong case to be included in the U21 team.
Many youth players are also participating in the Summer Festival of Bridge. Alexis and Sebastian Redin (SA) finished a very respectable 30th in the TBIB Open Swiss Pairs.
On Wednesday evening (21 Jav), 24 youth players invaded the CBC evening session for a very lively evening. One has to admire their energy with several players having played 40 or 60 boards during the day including Leon Meier (NZ, currently 6th) and 14th placed Heath Watkins and Kate McDonald, recent winners of the Helman-Klinger Achievement Awards.
Do you know how to get a score of 1960? It’s 1NTXX making 10 tricks! Huge thanks to Will and Vanessa for organising food to entice the youngsters and to “The Director” John who effortlessly managed the extra 7 tables and kept things moving plus playing!
Youthish Night
The next Youthish night for ACT Region Bridge Players is being held at the Canberra Bridge Club on Friday 20 February 2026.
Entry is FREE and there will be a Pizza dinner!
This event is for Youth players. All experience levels are welcome, no partner required.
Come to either session or both!
• Session 1: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
• Dinner: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
• Session 2: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Friends of Youth Bridge
Are you interested in helping Youth Bridge?
- Bringing or recommending someone to a Youth session
- Participating in sessions playing with and/or against Youth players
- Giving a talk (or series of talks) about becoming a better bridge player
- Helping with outreach to schools
If you’re interested in any of the above or have other ideas for improving the development of our Youth players, please contact CBC Youth Coordinator Suz Wilkinson
Online Lessons
Will is running regular Online Lessons that are suitable for Club players of all levels.
There is a LIVE ZOOM on Thursday Mornings at 9:30am, or you can sign up for the lessons and receive the Recording, Hands, Notes, and a way to Replay the hands later. The full list of lessons and topics can be found on our website.
The first lesson for 2026 is on Fundamental Bidding Tips on 19th February. Purchase through the link below.
Sorry…..How did the auction go?
At this year’s Summer Festival of Bridge which is currently winding up, I played in The Chris Diment Matchpoint Pairs with William Jenner-O’Shea. William and I have a pretty aggressive system of bidding (we open any ten point hands at the one level and quite a few nine point hands). Nonetheless, I found several new ways to stretch the friendship during the first few hands of the event when we got to the following board. (I was North).
West passed and it was my turn to bid with a balanced eight count, Vulnerable against Not. In an attempt to relive the exuberance of my youth, I decided to open One Diamond. East overcalled One Spade and William doubled (showing some points and a four card heart suit). West passed and I bid Two Diamonds – I could have bid One No Trump but I thought repeating my Diamonds would suggest a weak hand. East (who had most of the points I was supposed to have as well as their overcall!) bid Two Spades.
Unfortunately, William now figured that his King-Jack-Small of Diamonds would be useful in No Trumps, so he bid Three Spades (asking if I had a spade stopper). I dutifully bid Three No Trumps to show that I had some cover in Spades. Needless to say we were the only pair to bid Game with our combined twenty points.
Unfortunately for them, the defence got off to the lead of the Ace, King and Four of Spades, leaving me in hand with my first trick and East poised to cash two more Spades once they get in. However, they are now subject to what is known as a squeeze – this is where they are forced to make a discard and whatever card they choose to throw will cost them a trick. I played a diamond to the Jack, cashed the King of Diamonds and then played a third round of diamonds, ending in my hand. Here is the position now after six tricks (we’ve won four, they’ve won two):
I need five more tricks and I’m looking at two winning Diamonds and two Aces. One short. But look what happens to East when I cash the two Diamonds (throwing two Hearts from dummy). First, they pitched the Two of Hearts – they didn’t need this card. But what do they do on the second round? If they pitch another Heart, my Ace will drop their last honour and I will score my ninth trick with the Queen of Hearts. If they throw a Club away I can cash the Ace of Clubs and then lead towards my Ten of clubs for my ninth trick. At the table, they sat for a while and then threw away one of their winning Spades. This is always a sure sign that the squeeze you are running is working!
I led the Five of Clubs, drawing East’s Jack as I played my Ace and then led the Eight of Clubs from Dummy. West has no good answer. If she plays low, East will win the Queen, cash their one remaining spade, but then have to lead around to my Queen of Hearts and I will win the last two tricks. Alternatively, West can jump in with the King of Clubs, swallowing her partner’s Queen in order to lead a Heart through my Queen and thus save East from being endplayed. However, doing so promotes my Ten of Clubs as a winner and a ninth trick. At the table, this was what she elected to do, jumping in with the King of Clubs.
Bridge purists will be delighted to hear that I received my just desserts since, for some reason, I elected to throw my Ten of Clubs under West’s King! She frowned for a bit. Then proceeded to cash her Nine, Six and Four of Clubs, taking me One down and ensuring I received a 35% for the board instead of the 100% we would have received had I actually made the contract!
If you have any interesting hands that come up (or hands you wish you’d known how to play) we would love to hear about them at:
- Steve Geddes
Upcoming Events
The next Tuesday night competition Hugh Hudson Butler Pairs starts on 27th January and runs for 3 weeks, click below to register:
Results from SFOB
- Final Winners - Maurits Van Der Vlugt - Hugh Grosvenor - Terry Brown - David Beauchamp - Ian Thomson - George Kozakos
CHRIS DIMENT MATCHPOINT SWISS PAIRS
- 7th - ADAM ROBINSON / JACQUES CHERBUIN
- 1st - NICOLA MEARES / SHARON MICHAEL
- 6th - DAN DANTON / WARREN SMITH
- 4th - ANDREW STRUIK / NOEL BUGEIA
FIXED INCOME SOLUTIONS ONE DAY SWISS PAIRS
- 5th - ADAM ROBINSON / JACQUES CHERBUIN
NATIONAL NOVICE (UNDER 100 MASTERPOINT) ALL-ROUNDER - IMP PAIRS
- 2nd - JOSH SCHWARTZ / MAXWELL ASHURST
NATIONAL UNDER 750 - 300 MASTERPOINT ALL-ROUNDER - TEAMS
- 2nd - NICOLA MEARES - SHARON MICHAEL - LUCY D'AMBROSIO - SHANNON QUEREE
NATIONAL RESTRICTED (UNDER 300 MASTERPOINT) ALL-ROUNDER - IMP PAIRS
- 4th - NICOLA MEARES / SHARON MICHAEL
NATIONAL UNDER 750 MASTERPOINT ALL-ROUNDER - IMP PAIRS
- 1st - FIONA FAWCETT / JENNY BARNES
NATIONAL RESTRICTED (UNDER 300 MASTERPOINT) ALL-ROUNDER - MATCHPOINT PAIRS
- 5th - PAUL BIRKBY - DEBRA BIRKBY
NATIONAL NOVICE AND ROOKIE ALL-ROUNDER - TEAMS
- 2nd - GITA CURNOW - ROBIN EDWARDS - DENYSE FREEDMAN - PENELOPE SHILLING
NOVICE ROOKIE ALL ROUNDER - OVERALL
- 5th - BELINDA MOSS - JENNY BELL
Congratulations to all our members mentioned above (and their teammates) who had a very successful SFOB. Links to each of the event are included in the titles so you can check the full results so far.
Lighter Moments
Let me know if there are any errors or omissions in the Results list from the SFOB. I am hoping there won't be many, but I must admit that the larger congresses with their many events, categories and multiple day formats always confuse me just a little. I also have the very bad experience (back when I first started writing the newsletters) of having announced all the supposed winners by their pair/team numbers and not by their final ranks..
Have a great week everyone.
Elizabeth
